Demand Specialist

Role summary: 

The Supply Chain Demand Specialist will act as a key link between the China Commercial, Marketing, Customer Service, and Supply Chain teams. This role is responsible for understanding customer demand, translating market and customer insights into the demand planning process, and supporting short-term demand needs such as bespoke orders, large value orders, priority orders, and inventory transfers. The role requires strong communication, customer focus, analytical capability, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-changing environment. 

Roles & responsibilities:  

• Build strong working relationships with Global Sales Account Managers, Customer Service, Marketing, Supply Chain, and other cross-functional partners. 

• Support short-term demand needs, including bespoke orders, large value orders, priority customer requests, and other time-sensitive opportunities. 

• Process quote requests for Bespoke and large value orders for global customers. This includes working with internal manufacturing teams as well as directly with suppliers. 

• Develop a strong understanding of China customer demand, buying patterns, open order trends, customer priorities, and market signals to ensure relevant insights are reflected in the demand planning process. 

• Partner with Marketing and Commercial teams to understand upcoming campaigns, customer opportunities, product focus areas, and potential demand changes that may impact supply requirements. 

• Provide accurate delivery estimates to Account Managers and proactively communicate changes, risks, or delays when they occur. 

• Track on-time delivery performance for priority orders and support improvement actions where service or process gaps are identified. 

• Measure weekly performance against response-time expectations, including 24 hours for in-house products and 48 hours for OEM products. 

• Support accurate and timely inventory transfers between global locations to meet customer and regional supply needs. 

• Identify recurring demand, supply, or communication issues and recommend process improvements to improve responsiveness, visibility, and customer outcomes. 

• Complete other ad hoc duties as required to support customer demand and Supply Chain priorities. 

Qualifications 

• Associate degree or equivalent professional experience in supply chain, customer service, commercial operations, demand planning, or a related field. 

• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly, professionally, and concisely with internal stakeholders across functions and regions. 

• Strong customer focus, with the ability to balance customer needs, commercial priorities, and supply chain constraints. 

• Intermediate Excel skills, including sorting and filtering data, using formulas, working with large datasets, and creating or updating PivotTables. 

• Ability to apply critical thinking and sound judgment in a fast-changing environment with competing priorities. 

• Strong attention to detail, follow-through, and organizational skills. 

Desired Qualifications:  

• Prior exposure to demand planning, supply planning, sales operations, order management, or commercial support activities. 

• Experience supporting internal or external customers in a service-oriented role. 

• Ability to interpret demand signals, open order trends, customer priorities, and commercial inputs to identify potential risks or opportunities. 

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, collaborate, and communicate effectively with colleagues, commercial partners, and supply chain stakeholders. 

• Experience using Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Outlook; experience with Oracle, planning, or order management systems is helpful. 

• Demonstrated problem-solving skills and the ability to drive actions to closure.